Improvement in car-couplings



UNITED STATES PATENT sIMoN .I. KEIM, on OATASAUQUA, PENNSYLVANIA,AssIeNoR OF ONE- HALF HIS RIGHT TO WILLIAM YOUNGER, or SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 200,311, dated February12, 1878; application filed March 27, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMON J. KEIM, of Catasauqua, Lehigh county,Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inOar-Coupling, which improvement is fully set forth in the followingspecification and accompanying drawing, in which- Figure-l is a plan.Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3is a longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is afront-end view.

The object of my invention is to make the railway-cars self-coupling, sothat by simply pushing the cars in contact they will become securelyfastened without any assistance from the brakeman.

A is the draw-head; B, the buffer; G, the draw bar. The draw-head ismade double, having an upper recess, a, and a lower recess, a or theremay be several recesses, so that in the event of two cars comingtogether having draw-heads of difierent heights there will be nodifficulty in coupling them.

A falling bolt or tongue, 0, is pivoted to the shaft e, which passes]through the draw-head above the recess a and a similar bolt, 6', is

pivoted to the shaft 0 which passes through the middle web of thedraw-head. Each of these shafts has a lever-arm attached. (Shown in Fig.2, and lettered h h These arms are connected on the outside by a link,K, which is weighted at the bottom by a ball, M, or the link itself maybe heavy enough to act as a weight. An eye, k, is made at the top of thelink, into which a chain may be hooked, and the bolt or tongue operatedfrom the platform of the car.

The bolt 6 is held vertically in the position shown by the weightedlevers, and as soon as the cars are forced together for coupling the endof the draw-bar. O forces the bolt 6 into its recess d, and as soon .asit has passed the bolt falls and the pull of the draw-bar brings the toeof it in contact with the stop m on the lower side of the recess a. Theoperation of the upper and lower bolts 0 c is the same, and the movementof one is communicated by the link K to the other. forced into therecess d the lever h takes the position shown by dotted lines, Fig. 2.

The buffer B is made with two funnel-shaped mouths, corresponding withthe recesses a a and the central web is pointed at g, so as tofacilitate the entrance of the draw-bar 0 into one or the other recess.

I claim- 1. The combination, in a draw-head, of a series of boltspivoted on shafts one above the other, levers at the ends of saidshafts, and a weighted link uniting said levers, substantially as andfor the purposes specified.

2. The combination in the draw-head A of the two recesses a (t thefalling bolts e 0 the stops m m on the lower side of the recesses, thelevers h W, and the weighted link K connecting them, as hereindescribed.

SIMON J. KEIM.

Witnesses:

SIMON KEMP, B. CLAY HAMERSLY.

OFFICE; V

When the bolt 6 .is'

